Combination hydraulic overflow power dam



July 10, 1956 D. CAMPBELL COMBINATION HYDRAULIC OVERFLOW POWER DAM FiledFeb. 20. 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR panajd Cam v ZreZZ ATTORNEY5 y0, 1956 D. CAMPBELL 2,753,690

COMBINATION HYDRAULIC OVERFLOW POWER DAM Filed Feb. 20, 1953 4SheetsSheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY 5 y 10, 5 D. CAMPBELL 2,753,690

COMBINATION HYDRAULIC OVERFLOW POWER DAM Filed Feb. 20, 1953 4Sheets-Sheet s "z 7.2- 7. Z I. INVENTOR L. D nald Ca/m JZeZZ Wq M ATTORNEYS July 10, 1956 D. CAMPBELL COMBINATION HYDRAULIC OVERFLOW POWER DAMFiled Feb. 20. 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR Dona, ZZ Ca. m aZ'eZZATTORNEYS United States Patent COMBINATION HYDRAULIC OVERFLOW POWER DAMDonald Campbell, Medford, Greg.

Application February 20, 1953, Serial N 0. 337,951

4 Claims. (Cl. 61-19) This invention appertains to an improvement indams, and more particularly relates to a novel means for utilizing as apower source all of the water in a river or similar body of water.

An object of this invention is to provide a means for automaticallyvarying and controlling the overflow of the pools, and means selectivelypositionable in sluiceways within which the overflow flows for using theoverflow as an auxiliary power source.

Generally speaking, it is the practice in constructing a power dam toprovide a single dam or barrier, which creates a pool tip-streamtherefrom. Conventional hydro electric turbines or similar machinery arelocated in a power house at the base of the dam and water from thebottom of the pool is utilized to drive such machinery and passesthrough the turbines on past the dam to the level of the waterdown-stream therefrom.

The overflow is not harnessed or utilized in any fashion and there is nomeans provided for controlling the overflow or for varying the level ofthe pool. Further, the operation of the hydro-electric turbines orsimilar machinery depends upon the single pool for its power source andduring periods of drought the pool has a tendency to dry up and thuslimit the operation of the hydro-electric turbines or similar machinery.

it is the primary aim and purpose of my invention to obviate thesedefects in a twofold manner, first, by utilizing the overflow to power anumber of generators, and

For example, three dams may be constructed at spaced points in a riverand each dam creates a separate pool. The water from the first pool notonly can be used to drive the power machinery associated with the dam,but also can be used to augment the supply of water in either the secondor third pools and/ or to assist in driving the power machinery ineither the second or the third dam. It is necessary that the dams be atdifferent levels so that the dam up river or up-stream is above thelevel of the pool of the dam below it. Thus, a series of dams, of anynumber, is constructed in a river and a number of spaced pools arecreated, the dams being above the level of the I path of the water, asit flows down the face of the dam, 7

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and which are connected by a transmission system to a battery ofgenerators. The transmission system is controlled so that any one or allof the generators can be driven, dependent upon the amount of waterflowing down the face of the dam. Preferably, the water wheels andgenerators are housed in rooms, which are formed in the dam and whichopen through the face of the dam into the sluiceways provided in theface for the flow of the water spilling over the top. The water wheelsare bodily movable into the sluiceways from the rooms for contact withthe flowing water and through a belt transmission system drive thegenerators. The rooms are vertically spaced in the dam and any numbercan be provided, so that it will be seen that at vertically spacedpoints along the face of the dam the retractable water wheels will bepositioned in the sluiceways. Thus, the overflow is used to drive aconsiderable number of generators.

Briefly stated, my invention utilizes all of the water flowing in ariver or the like body of water a multiple number of times, whereas aconventional hydro-electric dam uses part of the water at a single pointbut once, that is to say, that my system embodies the provision of meansfor using all of the same water over and over again (for example, withthree dams, three times) whereas a conventional dam uses part of thesame water only once.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in thearrangement, combination and details of construction disclosed in thedrawings and specification, and then more particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

F'gure l is a front elevational view of one of the dams illustrating thesluiceways formed in the face thereof, and showing the water wheelsextended from the rooms into the sluiceways;

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of the top portion of one of the damsand is taken on the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of one of the generator units, showing thewater wheel in the retracted position or housed within the room;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on the line 4-4of Figure 3, showing the generating unit in side elevation;

Figure 5 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on the line 55of Figure 3, and illustrating the means provided for moving the waterwheels out of or into the room;

Figure 6 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 6--6 of Figure 3,and illustrates the clutch means provided for selectively engaging anddisengaging any of the generators with its water wheel;

Figure 7 is a detailed sectional view which illustrates the mountingmeans for the doors which are provided to close off the rooms fromcommunication with the sluiceways.

As shown generally in Figure 1, and more particularly in Figure 2, eachof the dams is formed in its top with a number of parallel channels 28,the channels being provided for the passage of the overflow water fromthe pools. Communicating with the channels and formed in the face ofeach dam are a number of sluiceways 30. The specific construction of thechannels and sluiceways is set forth in my copending application SerialNo. 337,283, filed February 17, 1953, entitled Power Dam and will beonly generally referred to here. As disclosed in my copendingapplication, control gates 32 are positioned in the channels 23. Beneatheach of the control gates a well 34 is formed and a pipe 36 communicatesthe well with the .pool, the flow of water through the pipe 36 to thewell being controlled by suitable valve means. The gate 32, as shown inFigure 2, pivotally overlies the well 34 and 'J is positioned betweenthe side walls of the channel 23 and a sealing means 38 is pivotallyconnected between the front wall of the well and the underside of thegate, so that the well is tightly sealed to prevent the escape of watertherefrom. Thus, the admission of Water into the well 34 by the pipe 36will cause the gate 32 to move upwardly and assume the desired inclinedposition with relation to the bottom wall of the channel. The gates arethus operated to form an adjustable barrier in the channels 28 andcontrol the overflow of water from the pools through the channels 23. Inother words, the gates provide a means for controlling the depth of thewater spilling from the channels down through the sluiceways 30. Thecontrol of the amount of overflow or depth of the water flowing throughthe channels 28 into the sluiceways 30 is of importance for the purposeof using such overflow as a source of power for the generating units 40.

In the dams proper a number of rooms 42 are formed. The rooms arevertically spaced, as shown in Figure 2, and house the generating units40. It is to be noted that a plurality of generating units 46 areprovided, as shown in Figure 1, the generating units being housed ineach of the rooms which are formed in horizontal rows across the face ofthe dam and are vertically spaced along the sluiceways. For example,with a darn that is approximately 500 to 1000 feet high andapproximately 800 to 1000 feet wide, the rooms would be spaced apartvertically about 70 feet and would be approximately 16 feet high. Thesluiceways 30 would be spaced apart approximately 50 feet and the widthof the sluiceways would be approximately 36 feet. The rooms could beco-extensive in width with the sluiceways.

To permit of access to the rooms 4-2, an elevator shaft 44 is formedvertically in the darn proper and communicates with the rooms 42 thatare at various levels. Also, hallways are provided to interconnect therooms at each level with the elevator shaft. The floors 46 of the roomsare inclined downwardly at their forward ends 48 so as to permit thewater wheels 50 to be easily swung out into the sluiceways and retractedback into the rooms. The water wheels 50 are rotatably carried by arms52 that are pivoted at 54 to a bracket 56, which depends from the roofof the rooms on supports 57. The arms 52 form one part of a crank, theother arm 58 of which is provided at its outer end with an axial slot60. A rack bar 62 is vertically movable in the rooms and extends at itsends into a travel slot 64 formed vertically above and below the rooms.The rack bar 62 is emmeshed with a pinion 66 that is driven by asuitable prime mover 63, such as an electric motor. The rack bar on itsplain side carries a pin 70 which is engaged in the slot 60. Thus, thevertical reciprocation of the rack bar 62 is translated by the pin andslot arrangement into a bodily oscillatory movement of the water wheel50. The water wheel 50 is bodily moved through the open front 72 of therooms and the amount of penetration of the water wheel 50 into thesluiceways 30 is controlled by the movement of the rack bar 62, for apurpose to be described. To close off the open front 72 of the rooms,when the water wheel is in its retracted position, as shown in fulllines in Figure 5, a door 74 is provided. The sluiceway is undercutabove each room to receive the door 74, so that the outer surface of thedoors is flush with the bottom wall of the sluiceway. The side edges ofthe doors are held in place by blocks 76 and 78, which abut the sidewalls of the sluiceways and are held in place by a bar 3 3, as shown inFigure 7. Of course, this manner of slidably mounting the doors ismerely exemplary since any type of door may be used to close off theopen front of the rooms and it is contemplated to use folding doorswhich can be automatically operated. The important feature is theprovision of some means for closing off the open front of a room, whenthe generating unit in the room is not in operation so that the waterflowing down the associated sluiceway will not spill into the room.

Coupled to the shaft 82 on which the water wheel is fast and which isrotatably mounted in the crank arms 52, are belts 83 which are carriedby pulleys on the rotated pivot shaft 54 and connected thereby to belts34 and 86 which form part of a drive transmission system for theindividual generators 83. The belts 84 and 86 are shown as the V-type,though any type of belt drive, or chain drive may be used. The belts arereeved on pulleys 90 which are fixed on the extending ends of the shaft82. The generators 88 are shown in pairs, the generators of each pairbeing in side-by-side relation and the pairs being longitudinally spacedapart. The generators of each pair are individually driven by the belts84 and 86. For example, the generators 83 of the first pair shown inFigure 3, have the belts 34 and 86 attached to their associated shaftsby means of pulleys. The generators of the second pair are coupled tothe first pair by belts 92 and the generator of the third pair arecoupled to the generator of the second pair by belts 94. On each of thegenerator shafts, as shown more particularly in Figure 6, clutch means96 is provided so that any of the generators may be selectively engagedor disengaged with the driving belts 84 and 86. On the generator shaft98 a sliding clutch plate 100 is keyed for movement axially of the shaftunder the impetus of operating means of conventional construction, andincluding the shifting rod 102. The clutch plate is adapted to be movedinto and out of frictional engagement with the clutch plate 104 formedintegral with the pulley 106 which is rotatably mounted for independentrotation on the shaft 98. Each of the generators has a clutch unit, asshown in Figure 6, so that by engaging the clutch plate of each unitwith the rotating pulley, the generator may be coupled with the drivingbelts 84 and 86. The driving belts 84 and 86 are shown as extending fromthe opposite ends of the water wheel shaft 82, but it is to beunderstood that this is due to the illustrated arrangement of thebattery of generators, and obviously, the generators may be arranged indifferent fashion and a single belt may be used or a multiple belt unitmay be used.

The gates 32 control the amount of water spilling over the dam andrunning down the sluiceways 30 and the gates are moved up and down bythe water pressure in the wells 34. Thus, if the water level in any ofthe pools rises, the gates can be raised by admitting Water into thewells through the pipes 36. This will control the amount of waterflowing down the sluiceways. Obviously, if the water level is very highit is desirable to conserve the water and to use only the necessaryamount of overflow to drive all the water wheels. If the level is low,the gates can be lowered or even moved to a fully down position to takeadvantage of what overflow may be present to drive the water wheels. Thewater wheels are selectively positionable in the sluiceways dependentupon the volume of water in the sluiceways.

It can thus be seen that a dam system is provided which will insure apermanent production of power Without any interruptions. For example, ifone of the belts in the belt transmission system of the generating units40 should become worn and need replacement, as frequently occurs, theclutch means may be used to throw the associated generator 92 out ofconnection with the water wheel, or if a number of belts of one unitneed replacement, the entire unit can be rendered inoperative byretracting the water wheel associated therewith.

Accordingly, while the preferred form of this invention has beenillustrated and described, it is to be understood that other forms maybe utilized so that limitation is sought only in accordance with thepending claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a dam having a spillway and a horizontally extending compartmentopening into said spillway, a water wheel, means in said compartmentsupporting said wheel for swinging movement into said spillway, a powershaft in said compartment and fixed to the roof thereof, meansconnecting said wheel with said shaft in driving relation, and powertakeofl? means mounted on said shaft, said first means comprising a pairof substantially right angled members each having an aperture extendingthrough the junction of their respective arms rotatably receivingopposite ends of said power shaft therethrough, means mounting saidwheel for rotation on one of adjacent pairs of ends of one pair of saidarms, to etfect swinging movement of said first pair of arms and saidwheel into and out of said spillway.

2, In a darn as defined in claim 1, said means for effecting saidswinging movement comprising a T-shaped member having a cross-head and astern, said cross-head having its respective ends connected to andextending between said adjacent ends of said other arms with said stemprojecting away therefrom, and means connected with said stem to effectswinging movement thereof.

3. In a dam as defined in claim 2, said means connected with said stemcomprising a gear rack, guide means in said compartment, said gear rackbeing mounted for vertical reciprocation in said guide means, a pinhaving an end thereof fixedly secured to said gear rack and projectinglaterally therefrom, said stern having an axially extending slot formedtherein to slidably receive said pin, a revers References Cited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 439,165 Maginn Oct. 28, 1890914,399 Fancher Mar. 9, 1909 954,999 Roell Apr. 12, 1910 1,594,578Thurlow Aug. 3, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS 2,959 France of 1830 OTHERREFERENCES Handbook of Applied Hydraulics, by C. V. Davis, 1st edition,pages 368 to 389, 555 to 565, and page 186. Copyrighted 1942.

Engineering News-Record, May 10, 1951, page 29.

